[pct-l] General Bear Question

[enyapjr at comcast.net]

> ...tell me the mile I need to start using a bear can.

Steel-Eye hit it on the nose - Cottonwood Pass, PCT mile ~750, is the start of the first 'required' area...
Logistically speaking, Big Toe was also relatively accurate -
> ...thrus will carry them from Kennedy Meadows (mile 690) to Sonora Pass or Lake Tahoe.
Kennedy Meadows Store is off-trail at mile ~703; KM Campground is at mile ~705...
>From Sonora Pass, you would have a sometimes difficult, long hitch (E) to Bridgeport to mail your canister...
Kennedy Meadows 'North', W of Sonora Pass, has no outgoing mail services...

I disagree, but for a different reason, with Sugar Moma's post:
> alot of people sent them home when they reasched Tuolumne last year...I don't advise it...
Bear canisters are required in all of the Yosemite backcountry, unless you utilize food lockers -
but on the PCT there are few food lockers - only at Tuolumne Meadows & Glen Aulin (mile ~942 & 948)...
So one would have to travel a minimum of 50 miles from Glen Aulin to Dorothy Lake Pass (the northern
boundary of Yosemite) without stopping/camping to be 'legal' if not having a bear canister with you...

See <http://postholer.com/faq.php#Canister> for mile point breakdown of 'required' areas plus other bear canister related links...

Happy trails!!!
Jim (PITA)